The White House slashed its $5 billion demand for a border wall in half in an effort to end a week-long partial federal shutdown, but Democrats rejected it, reports Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post.
Dawsey, the Post’s White House reporter, tweeted at $2.5 billion figure in response to a post from NBC News’ Josh Lederman that incoming Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said the Trump administration had softened "its hard line" of $5 billion for the wall, though Mulvaney did not disclose an amount.
President Donald Trump and Democrats have been at an impasse over funding the wall, ensuring that the partial shutdown would continue into 2019.
Trump threatened Friday to "close the Southern Border entirely" if he did not receive the necessary funds for a wall on the U.S-Mexico border.
The Senate and House held brief sessions Thursday, but neither chamber took any votes on any measure to fund the nine government departments that closed after money ran out Dec. 21.
Mulvaney told reporters Friday that President Trump was "absolutely" willing to shut down the southern border, despite the enormous cost to the country.
"All options are on the table," he said. "Listen, it's the only way we can get the Democrats' attention."
"We put the last offer on the table," he added. "Discussions have broken down. We do expect this to go on for awhile."
A 16-day partial federal shutdown in October 2013 cost American taxpayers $1.4 billion, while other research has pegged losses in U.S. economic output at $24 billion.
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